> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.richmonder.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # From Collegiate to cartoons: Mike Henry brings a bit of Richmond to ‘Family Guy’ and ‘The Cleveland Show’ - URL: https://www.richmonder.org/from-collegiate-to-cartoons-mike-henry-brings-a-bit-of-richmond-to-family-guy-and-the-cleveland-show/ - Published: 2026-09-23T21:13:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-23T21:13:51.000Z - Description: Henry will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from Collegiate School, his alma mater. - Author: Rich Griset - Tags: Features, #lead Thanks to Mike Henry, some of TV’s funniest cartoon characters have their roots in Richmond. There’s Cleveland Brown, the mild-mannered neighbor and friend of Peter Griffin on “Family Guy.” There’s Herbert the Pervert, the elderly pedophile who harbors an unrequited love for Peter Griffin’s son Chris. And there’s Bruce Straight, the mustachioed minor character known for his catchphrase “Oh noooooooo!” All these characters can be traced back to Henry’s time in Richmond. On Friday, Henry will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from Collegiate School, his alma mater. Ahead of the award, The Richmonder reached out to the “Family Guy” writer, producer and voice actor by phone to discuss his life and upbringing in Richmond. ### ‘A wonderful place to grow up’ Though Henry was born in Pontiac, Michigan, he and his younger brother were raised in Richmond – first in the Fan, then in the West End. “It was just a wonderful place to grow up in the ’70s and ’80s,” said Henry, whose boyhood jobs included delivering the Richmond Times-Dispatch and bagging groceries at Ukrop’s. His mother, Barbara Sullivan, was a local portrait artist. His father, Chuck Henry, taught sculpture at VCU for 35 years. “My parents were sort of starving artists,” Henry recalled, adding that he attended Collegiate on financial aid. “The school really embraced us. It was an interesting time, but a wonderful time.” When it came time for college, Henry attended Washington and Lee University, serving as class president his sophomore, junior and senior years. After graduating in W&L’s the last all-male admitted class in 1988, Henry scored a job as a junior account executive at The Martin Agency. “It was really cool to be in that mix, but I realized almost immediately that that’s not what I wanted to do with my life,” he recalled. Inspired by David Lynch’s individualistic artistic vision while watching a screening of “Wild at Heart” at the since-demolished Westhampton Theatre, Henry decided to quit his job and pursue his passion: comedy. He packed his belongings into his Jetta and headed for Hollywood. In Los Angeles, Henry performed stand-up, did improv with The Groundlings, and took screenwriting classes at UCLA and the American Film Institute. He soon realized that his goal was to appear on “Saturday Night Live.” Henry returned to Richmond and produced commercials for small local advertising agencies. After a shoot was finished, Henry would use the film equipment to shoot sketches and short films with his friends. His 1996 commercial for The Texas-Wisconsin Border Café left a, uh, lingering presence. The Tex-Mex café, which was owned by future VCUarts dean Joe Seipel, was located at Main and Plum streets where Beauvine now stands. In the black-and-white commercial, Henry and a woman awkwardly stand on a porch after a first date. When Henry goes in for a kiss, the woman lets out a small fart and Henry quickly runs away. The commercial ends with the tagline: “The Texas Wisconsin Border Café: It truly is an unforgettable meal.” “We won best of show at the Richmond advertising awards that year,” Henry said. “That was a little $5,000 commercial competing against the million-dollar budgets of The Martin Agency, etc., and we walked away with the top prize.” ### ‘SNL’ or ‘Family Guy’ Around this time, Henry visited his brother Patrick to act in his brother’s student films at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was then that Henry met Patrick’s roommate, future “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, and the two hit it off. When MacFarlane created his network pitch for “Family Guy,” Henry contributed jokes. In 1997, Henry moved up to New York City to pursue roles in commercials and enmesh himself with the “SNL” gang. “Just as I was getting fairly close to a real look at ‘SNL,’ Seth called from L.A. and said that he had sold the show,” Henry said. “He asked if I wanted to come and create characters and write jokes.” It was a tough decision, but Henry decided to pursue “Family Guy.” “I’ve been working on it for 28 years now,” Henry said. “I’m so grateful for this journey.” The character Cleveland Brown came about while the “Family Guy” writers were conceptualizing the show in 1998\. MacFarlane had already figured out Peter, Stewie and Quagmire, but needed more characters to flesh out the cartoon’s fictional world. Henry remembered a recent encounter he’d had while playing basketball at Richmond’s Humphrey Calder Community Center. “I met this African American man from Maryland, who said he was from ’Meraland,” said Henry. The man’s accent served as the inspiration for Cleveland Brown. “The cadence or the rhythm of Peter and Quagmire is very rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. Cleveland just sort of slows it all down, and that’s how the character was born.” Herbert the Pervert similarly has Richmond roots. “Herbert was sort of based on an old man I worked with at Ukrop’s when I was in high school,” Henry said. “Also, a bit of \[chicken magnate\] Frank Purdue: ‘It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.’” Bruce Straight, an effeminate character who wears an earring and frequently changes jobs, was also inspired by Richmond. “He’s based on probably 10 different small shop owners I met in Richmond,” Henry said. “He’s just a very peculiar, funny guy.” “The Cleveland Show” took place in a town called Stoolbend, which was a riff on Richmond. In preparation for the show, Henry’s brother Patrick took pictures around the River City to inspire the neocolonial look of Stoolbend. The town’s name came from a fishing trip on the Chickahominy River that Henry took with his high school buddies. “We were making our way down a tributary that had a bend in it, and my friend took a crap off the boat, so we named it ‘Stool’s Bend,’” Henry recalled. “Twenty years later, I’m creating ‘The Cleveland Show,’ so we named the town ‘Stoolbend.’ I’m a big proponent and advocate of bathroom jokes.” Though the show, which ran from 2009 to 2013 on Fox, rarely directly referenced Richmond, Henry says the gym in the show is modeled after Collegiate’s. Because of “The Cleveland Show,” Henry was able to record a song with Earth, Wind & Fire called “Get Your Hump on This Christmas.” He also got to work with David Lynch, the surrealist American director whose film motivated Henry to pursue his passion in his 20s; Lynch voiced Gus the Bartender in 22 episodes of “The Cleveland Show.” “David was so inspiring,” Henry said. “Just such a kind, genuine man with such a complex worldview, and he’s so funny. David Lynch is a big life hero for me.” In June 2020, with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Henry decided to step down from voicing Cleveland, posting on Twitter that “persons of color should play characters of color.” The character has been voiced since by Arif Zahir, who is African American. ### Back in Richmond These days, Henry says he gets back to Richmond once or twice per year. His son Jack is currently working on a master’s in sports leadership at VCU. His wife Sara is a graduate of Thomas Dale High School in Chester, and their daughter Josie is currently a high school senior in Los Angeles. “We spend our time working out, eating healthy, being Californians, just reaping the blessing of 28 years on ‘Family Guy,’” Henry said. Presently, Henry is at work on an upcoming “Family Guy” spinoff called “Stewie” in which he’ll be a regular performer. He also plans to reboot his podcast “The Mike Henry Show.” On Thursday, he’ll attend the opening reception for an exhibition of his late mother’s paintings. “Barbara Sullivan: A Retrospective” will be open to the public starting Thursday [at Quirk Gallery](https://www.quirkgallery.com/show/quirk-gallery-barbara-sullivan-a-retrospective). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/09/BSH_054.JPG) One of the works that will be on display at Quirk Gallery. (Quirk Gallery) As “Family Guy” approaches its 500th episode, Henry has a bit of advice for people trying to figure out their careers. “Don’t get caught up in what you think you should be doing,” Henry said. “Do what gives you energy and makes you feel alive.”